Joanna Davies
The man who lived here before we came
The man who lived here before we came
wears a linen jacket creased beyond fashion
and oiled as dark as the melting slicks on the tarmac
beside the wall where he sleeps
in a place
of bougainvillea firing scented missiles.
and stars pasting a giant dome
across the African night. The mirage, otherwise perfect,
is my resurrection from life on its icy arete,
my melting into calm.
I find the hotelier
ask why no one has moved on
the drunk who stares at children
and sleeps on walls in my peppery paradise.
‘This man lived here before we came'
the hotelier says, his eyes
fiery through that same tar black.
The linen-rumples
around his face are cold.
‘He is not drunk.
But I will move him on, if you so wish.’
I leave, and try to meet
the black, black eye of the man
who lived here before we came.
But he has seen enough of the
dishwater-grey of the European.
Page(s) 16
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